A850 - Thoughts and some little queries

[Scotster]

Just putting the box through its paces and I must say, it's a massive step up from the 780. The menus are FAR slicker as is the channel changing. When adding favourites with the 780 it seemed to crash every half dozen channels, no issues with the ole favourite adding so that's a definite good start. Picture is very nice, even with a lot of the non-hd channels. Only one HD channel that doesn't work for me (STV) that I have noticed so far so all good there. It's only going to get better so looking forward to the updates.

I've just started playing around with the recording/timeshift function. All very simple to use but not without it's small glitches.

When using TS is there a knack of getting rid of the play logo? Everything else seems to disappear from the display after 5 seconds, as it should, but this annoying box with a play symbol and TS just sits there.

Does anyone elses box crash when pressing the OK button to view a channel list then hitting "back"? Mine dies on me if I do. It's not a huge issue as if I hit OK to select the channel it's fine, it's just an annoyance as I have a habit of pressing certain things automatically .

Searching around there isn't really a lot on these boxes which makes troubleshooting a little difficult. I'm sure I'll get there though


Known Issues so far:

The box crashes when pressing back while viewing the channel list (Press OK while viewing then press back button).
AV Setting won't save, ie if you choose 720p and then save, after a reboot it defaults to 1080i.
When using time sync the play logo won't go away until it is turned back off.
Using time sync with a HDD caddy crashes the box, separately powered or flash drive required.
EPG in daily won't show programs past midnight of the current day.
EPG in weekly won't show programs past midnight of the current day, no other days are viewable.
Information bar periodically sticks on, requires "OK/OK" or "Info/Info" to get rid of it.
After midnight information box shows previous days scheduling, requires reboot to correct.
Program Information box incorrectly formatted, half words are cut off etc. (info/info to view)
Setting timer to record via EPG (red button while viewing EPG) causes all 8 timers to be overwritten with the same timer settings. Very annoying if you have already set a timer or want to set multiple.
Timer to change channels needs to be manually set, no option to set a channel change timer while viewing EPG.

[cactikid]

are you using front usb slot and timer recordings.

[Scotster]

are you using front usb slot and timer recordings.

Using the front USB but looking to use timeshift rather than record. The recording works fine, only tried it for a few minutes though.

[flyin]

Sorry if I sound dumb but what does time shift do an what use is it?

[Scotster]

Sorry if I sound dumb but what does time shift do an what use is it?

If you turn timeshift on you can pause/rewind/ffwd live TV. When you turn it on it pauses, you can then leave it and go and do your thing before coming back and unpausing to continue viewing. From there you can rewind, pause or FFWD through adverts etc. Quite a handy feature but a little annoying on this box at the moment.


Another query though..... has anyone successfully managed to get the 720p setting to save? Everytime I shutdown my box and restart it it's back to 1080i. Not really sure what else to try.

Once the niggles are ironed out this will be a belter of a box.

[flyin]

I take it you have to connect a USB drive.

[cactikid]

if you cut the power to box it may default to 1080 would that not be the usual standard for using a hdmi cable

[Scotster]

if you cut the power to box it may default to 1080 would that not be the usual standard for using a hdmi cable

I don't think 1080i is the standard, 720p is far better (1080p would be even better given that's what Virgin outputs on some channels). 1080i was part of the old "HD Ready" fracas.

It states in the settings "Press OK to Save". On pressing OK it comes up "Saving" (or something like that) but when the box is turned off/on it defaults back to 1080i.

I can only put that down to a fault. It's only little niggles though, nothing unliveable. It's fairly young at the moment so can't complain, just making sure that everyone is in the same boat and it's not an issue with my particular box/software

Picture is excellent, jittering is minimal and the menu's & favourites are slick. Small price to pay for a few little issues

[Scotster]

I take it you have to connect a USB drive.

Yeah, from what I've noticed so far it either has to be a powered drive or a flashdrive. I have a 2.5" caddy and it really doesn't like it, which is a bit of a pain given that a 2hr film takes up about 9gb.

[Scotster]

Niggles that I've noticed:

Pressing OK to view channel list then pressing "Back" crashes box. Hard reset required.
Trying to use Timeshift with an unpowered HDD caddy crashes box. Hard reset required.
Trying to use Timeshift with a flashdrive leaves an icon on the middle of the screen till it's switched off (Unuseable for me)
AV Setting doesn't save, defaults to 1080i.
EPG won't go past midnight on "Daily" view
EPG Won't go past current day in "Weekly" view (Ergo can't go past midnight at all)
More often than not the information bar won't go away on it's own OK-OK required to get rid of it.

[cactikid]

was the caddy formatted for fat32?

i would suggest to use an external powered hard drive as less stress on the box.

what firmware is on the box now.

[flyin]

I don't think 1080i is the standard, 720p is far better (1080p would be even better given that's what Virgin outputs on some channels). 1080i was part of the old "HD Ready" fracas.

It states in the settings "Press OK to Save". On pressing OK it comes up "Saving" (or something like that) but when the box is turned off/on it defaults back to 1080i.

I can only put that down to a fault. It's only little niggles though, nothing unliveable. It's fairly young at the moment so can't complain, just making sure that everyone is in the same boat and it's not an issue with my particular box/software

Picture is excellent, jittering is minimal and the menu's & favourites are slick. Small price to pay for a few little issues

are you saying 720p is a better picture for when viewing HD channels.

[Shady]

yes, because 1080i is 2 540 line pictures merged together, 720p is 720 lines

[Scotster]

was the caddy formatted for fat32?

i would suggest to use an external powered hard drive as less stress on the box.

what firmware is on the box now.

Yup formatted to fat32. I tried it to record and it worked fine, was only a couple of minutes though. It's only the rolling timeshift it seems to have hassle with.

I do have an external sata caddy so will give it a go in the future. I'm just playing around just now to see what's what, not got it properly "wired for sound" yet

[Scotster]

are you saying 720p is a better picture for when viewing HD channels.

yes, because 1080i is 2 540 line pictures merged together, 720p is 720 lines

Yup, as above. Interlaced is never as good as progressive. Progressive is always smoother, remember to check that when looking at camcorders and anything else to do with video (including editing).

Basically if you have a show that's 25fps, that means 25 frames per second. With a 720p video you only get 720 vertical lines but each individual frame has the full 720 vertical lines. With 1080i you get 2 separate 540 images alternating. Frame one has 540 lines spaced out over 1080 lines on the screen, frame 2 has the opposite 540 lines spaced out over 1080 lines on the screen.

Due to this, even although the combined resolution is higher, the image is nowhere near as smooth as with 720p.

1080p is a noticeable step up from 720p, 1080i is definitely a step down for me.